Barbless fishing spear

ABSTRACT

A FISHING SPEAR HAS A FIRST IMPALING TINE JOINED TO ONE END OF AN ELONGATED HANDLE. THE FIRST TINE HAS A HELICALL PORTION TERMINATING IN A POINTED TIP. A SECOND TINE IS ESSENTIALLY STRAIGHT AND EXTENDS FROM THE HANDLE THROUGH THE HELICAL PORTION OF THE FIRST TINE WHERE IT TERMINATES IN A POINTED TIP.

' Feb. 16, 1971 sP 3,562,946

BARBLESS FISHING SPEAR Original Filed Match 6. 1967 50.6 J @0000 INVE TR MF M United States Patent Office 3,562,946 Patented Feb. 16, 19713,562,946 BARBLESS FISHING SPEAR Bob J. Spann, Suite 900, Wilson Bldg.,Corpus Christi, Tex. 78401 Division of application Ser. No. 814,234,Apr. 4, 1969, now Patent No. 3,482,349, which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 620,817, Mar. 6, 1967, which in turn is acontinuation-impart of application Ser. No. 421,734, Dec. 28, 1964. Thisapplication June 24, 1969, Ser. No. 858,219

Int. Cl. A011: 81/04 US. Cl. 43-6 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Afishing spear has a first impaling tine joined to one end of anelongated handle. The first tine has a helical portion terminating in apointed tip. A second tine is essentially straight and extends from thehandle through the helical portion of the first tine where it terminatesin a pointed tip.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a divisionapplication of my copending application Ser. No. 814,234, filed Apr. 4,1969, and entitled Barbless Fishing Spear, and now Pat. No. 3,482,349which was a continuation application of my previously filed applicationSer. No. 620,817, filed Mar. 6, 1967, now abandoned, which applicationwas in turn a continuation-in-part of my previously filed applicationSer. No. 421,734, filed Dec. 28, 1964, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A sport having a relatively wide appeal isthat of hunting fish, frogs, and other similar game (all of which willhereinafter be referred to as fish for purposes of simplicity) withspears or gigs. Quite often it is necessary for a spear fisherman tohave a number of gigs or spears for the various types of sport fish.Some require a plurality of tines with barbs of varying sizes. For otherfish, a single tine is sufiicient due to the fact the fish are smallenough to be retained by one tine. The necessity of having more than onespear is, of course, undesirable. Some States prohibit the use of barbedspears and gigs in the taking of certain fish. There is, therefore, anecessity for a spear or gig that has no barb but that is capable ofholding or releasing a fish.

Another problem that has persisted in this field is that of making aspear that would retain the fish, preventing it from slipping ofi of thespear, yet would not result in extensive damage to the fish. Such damagewould result, for example, where barbs are used on the tines of thespears and would occur when spearing the fish or when attempting tolater remove the fish from the spear.

An additional problem that also persists is that of releasing dangerousfish that have been speared by accident or mistake. An example of thisis found in the sport of floundering which consists of spearingflounders that have burrowed into the sand and mud in shallow water.Sting rays also burrow into the sand in a similar manner and may quiteeasily be mistaken for flounder. One experienced in this sport willrealize that spearing a fish does not usually kill it. As is readilyapparent, therefore, releasing such as a sting ray from the spear couldbe quite dangerous to the person if it is necessary to get close to ortouch the sting ray.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The present invention utilizes means ona spear or gig which will allow one to spear and retain any fishnormally hunted in this manner. This is accomplished in the presentinvention by use of a lateral offset portion in the tine or tines. Thus,when a fish is speared, by manipulating the spear, the body of the fishwill slide onto this offset portion. This will prevent the fish fromfalling off the tine. These offsets may be looped-shaped, C-shaped,helically or spirally-shaped, or merely a straight lateral bend in thetine. Other configurations will come readily to mind. To removeundesired or dangerous fish, all one need do is twist and shake thespear and the fish will fall off.

As will be seen, no barbs are used on the present invention, and thetine presents an essentially straight, smooth surface. Relatively littledamage is done to the fish with the present invention in comparison tothe damage that would be done when using barbs, both in spearing thefish and in removing the spear from the fish.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide abarbless hunting spear having means to retain speared fish on the spear,but without causing undue damage to the fish.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a barbless huntingspear having retention means for the speared fish from which the fishmay be easily and quickly released by mere manipulation of the spearitself without the necessity of touching the fish.

Another object is to provide such a spear having latterally extendingportions in the tine as the retention means, whereby the tine presents asmooth unbroken surface.

Other and further objects, features and advantages will be apparent fromthe following description of a presently preferred embodiment of theinvention, given for the purpose of disclosure, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the attached drawing, like characterreferences designate like parts throughout the several views, whichviews are as follows:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a first embodiment of the present invention,the spear handle being only partially shown for simplicity,

FIG. 2 is a side view of the second embodiment of the present invention,the spear handle, once again, being only partially shown for simplicity,and

FIG. 3 is a side view of a third embodiment of the present invention,again the spear handle being only partially shown.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Turning now to FIG. 1 of theattached drawing, one of the preferred embodiments is shown in which thelaterally offset portion is generally 0 or looped-shaped. Thisembodiment consists essentially of a handle portion 10, which is onlypartially shown, and a time generally indicated by the numeral 12.

The tine 12 is made up of three portions. The first portion is the shank14, which connects the tine 12 with the handle 10. The sharpened tip 16is, of course, located on the free end of the tine. Connecting the tip16 to the shank portion 14 is the connecting portion 18 which containsthe lateral offsets 20. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the tine presents asmooth, unbroken surface, although it is curved as is shown.

In the use of this embodiment, the fish is speared in a normal manner.By proper manipulation of the spear, working the fish against the bottomof the body of water, the body of the fish may be worked into thelaterally offset portions 20. The lowermost lateral offset 20 willprevent the fish from wiggling or falling off the tine. If desired, thefish may be worked on past the loop to the uppermost lateral offset 22or onto the shank 14.

In this manner, the fish will be securely fastened on the spear beforethe spear is withdrawn from the bottom of the body of water. Inaddition, the action of manipulating the spear to work the body of thefish onto the upper or offset portions of the spear, will not causeundue damage to the fish due to the continuously smooth surface of thetine.

To remove undesired or dangerous fish, it is only necessary, once again,to manipulate or twist the spear to release it from the tine. It is,accordingly, not necessary to get dangerously close to or touch the fishto remove it from the spear.

Turning now to FIG. 2, the second embodiment will be discussed. Onceagain, this embodiment consists of a handle portion which is onlypartially shown. The tine generally indicated by the numeral 22 is alsocomposed of three sections, the shank portion 24, the tip 26 and theconnecting portion 28. In this embodiment, the connecting portion 28 ishelically or spirally-shaped. This connecting portion has, of course, aplurality of laterally extending portions 30 due to its configuration.In fact, essentially the entire length of the helical portion 28 may beconsidered as being lateral to the longitudinal axis of the tip 26. Aswill be understood, the connecting portion 28 may be composed of oneloop as shown in FIG. 2, or a number of loops, as may be desired.

The operation of this embodiment is essentially the same as with theembodiment shown in FIG. 1. It may be readily seen that, to move thebody of a fish onto a laterally offset portion 30, it is only necessaryto rotate the spear handle 10 as one presses the speared fish againstthe bottom of the body of water. In this manner, the time 22 will, ineffect, screw itself to the body of the fish. Once again, due to thesmooth and unbroken surface of tine 22, a minimum amount of damage willbe done to the fish as it is moved into the helically or spirally-shapedportion 30. In like manner, the fish may be removed by merely rotatingthe handle in the opposite direction.

Turning now to FIG. 3, the third and final embodiment disclosed hereinwill be discussed. This embodiment consists of a handle portion 10 whichis, once again, only partially shown. A first tine 32 extends from a tipof the handle and is an essentially straight tine having a sharpened tip34. A second tine, generally indicated at 36, also extends from the tipof the handle 10. This second tine is formed of a shank portion 38 and ahelically or spirally shaped portion 40. As with the embodiment shown inFIG. 2, the number of loops in portion 40 may be varied as desired. Itshould once again be understood that the lateral ofisets used in thisembodiment may be C-shaped, looped shaped, or merely a straight lateralbend in the tine. The portion 40 terminates in a sharpened point 44, andhas lateral portions 42 similar to portions 30 in the last embodiment.As can be seen from the drawing, the first or straight tine 32 extendsthrough the coils of the helical portion 40 of the second tine 36.

In using this embodiment, the fish is speared in the normal manner. Toget the body of the fish onto the lateral offsets 42, the spear isrotated as was discussed in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2. The body ofthe fish will become impaled by the sharpened point 44 of the secondtine 36. Further rotation will cause the coils of the helical portion 40to pass through the body of the fish, thereby providing means to preventthe fish from falling from the spear. The fish is removed in the samemanner as was discussed in removing fish from the embodiment shown inFIG. 2. The embodiment of FIG. 3 does have the disadvantage of causingsome additional damage to the fish in comparison with the first twoembodiments, due to the fact that in this last embodiment, two tineswill enter the fish. Nevertheless, because these tines are, once again,smooth surfaced and have no barbs, this damage to the fish is maintainedat a minimum.

As is seen, therefore, the present invention, as exemplified by thethree embodiments disclosed herein, achieves the objectives set forth atthe outset. A spear has been devised which has no barbs but which hasmeans in the form of lateral offsets to secure and retain the spearedfish and game. Accordingly, no unnecessary damage is done to the game asit is speared or as it is removed from the spear. In addition, with thepresent invention, the game may be removed from the spear by merelymanipulating the spear handle and without the necessity of touching thespeared game.

The present invention, therefore, is well adapted to carry out theobjects and attain the ends and advantages mentioned as well as othersinherent therein. While the presently preferred embodiment of theinventon has been given for the purpose of disclosure, numerous changesin the detail of construction and combination, size, shape andarrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as herein claimed.

I claim:

1. A barbless spear for use in spearing a fish and the like comprising,

an elongated handle whereby the user can hold the spear and spear fishat a safe distance therefrom, said handle having a longitudinal axis,

a first tine extending outwardly from one end of said handle, said firsttine including,

a sharpened tip to penetrate said fish, and a portion of said tine beinglaterally offset from said axis, said portion being further defined as ahelical portion located near the tip and positioned between the tip andsaid handle, said spear further including a second tine extendingoutwardly from said one end of the handle, and having a sharpened tip topenetrate said fish.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein,

the second tine is essentially straight and extends through the helicalportion.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein,

the second tine is substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis, andextends beyond said tip on the first tine.

4. The invention of claim 2 wherein,

the tip on the first tine is an extension of said helical portion andextends in the same helical configuration as said helical portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 179,090 6/1876 Barnes 8l3.45350,702 10/ 1886 Schollhorn 813.45X 796,413 8/1905 Butler 436 880,807 31908 Menkin 294-61X 1,446,277 2/1923 Stafford 813.49 1,657,728 1/1928Untiedt 813.45X 2,619,371 11/1952 Kroenlein 29461 3,162,475 12/ 1964 VanAllen 29461X 3,216,141 11/1965 Walger 43-6 FOREIGN PATENTS 22,472 1906Great Britain 4344.2

WARNER H. CAMP, Primary Examiner

